1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the surface finishing of parts or workpieces with loose finishing material in a vibratory finishing chamber while maintaining each part or group of parts isolated from each other to prevent or minimize damage to them as a result of collision between parts, and is particularly directed to an apparatus in which the parts are confined by individual part-isolating means comprising transverse walls forming individual compartments, which transverse walls are maintained in close proximity with the inner surface of the finishing chamber and which travel along with the parts and the loose finishing material, in which means are provided for effecting closer proximity between the edges of said transverse wall and the interior walls of said finishing chamber for better isolation of an individual compartment interior of said finishing chamber and which, if desired, can be brought into a sufficiently close proximity to prevent passage of substantial amounts of loose finishing material into one individual compartment from adjacent individual compartments, and which can be stopped, if desired, in a discharge zone with the part-isolating means straddling a discharge means thereof. The loose finishing material and/or the part or group of parts in any one individual chamber can be the same or different from that in any other individual chamber.